Category Archives: Vegetables

A recipe borrowed from Martha Stewart is bound to turn out right. Right?

I chose carrots for May and wanted to steer clear of the basic cook-them-in-a-pot method, to try something different. This might have been cheating a little bit because I didn’t make this carrot juice. I purchased it and I doubt there was any other way, so I’m alright with that decision.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures, but this very simple to make! Just my speed. I did not have parsley, hence the bland looking (though still orange) rice. All in all, I’d say this was tasty, but could use a bit more.. something. Flavor? Maybe the carrot juice I got wasn’t concentrated enough? Maybe I didn’t put in enough cheese (doubtful)? Needs some tweaking.

Raise heat to medium; add rice and cook, stirring until grains are translucent around the edges, about 3 minutes. Stir in wine, if using; cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup hot broth mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until most liquid is absorbed. Continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it is incorporated and rice is tender but still a little firm to the bite, 25 to 30 minutes. Stir in remaining tablespoon butter and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among dishes, and sprinkle with parsley and more Parmesan.

I was excited about this one because basil hadn’t come around yet, and I hate buying that bunch in a package for $3 when summertime consists of a $3 plant that last the whole season. This seemed like just the summer-y meal I needed to keep my brain from wallowing in the coldness that hadn’t left yet.

This was craaaazy simple. Just put things in a blender. You don’t even cook the broccoli beforehand.

The original recipe over at Green Kitchen Stories has beautiful photos, so rather than fill this post with them, I’ll direct you there. They also didn’t add cheese, so. I took matters into my own hand and added lots. My only thoughts after making this were that it was a bit acidic for me. Something to consider if you want to change it up.

Throw all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse for about a minute. Taste it. Add more olive oil or water if it feels too dry, and salt & pepper according to taste. Makes 2 cups of pesto.
Serve with pasta, in a salad, on a sandwich or in a wrap.

These are… unattractive, to say the least. They’re pasty looking, a general tan color and appear to be a pretty unexciting dinner. If you have cats, they look like they’ve been inside of a cat at one point.

But in an effort to try something I hadn’t ever tried with broccoli (something other than it steamed or in a stir fry), I found this broccoli burger recipe. No burger or meat of any kind in it, but I was a fan of the straightforward, simple list of ingredients. They’d be perfect if they didn’t look so unappealing.

Shape into patties, bake them, and whip up the tahini sauce that’s also in this recipe. It’s April, we’re apparently getting lazy, people. I suspect these will be my only two broccoli recipes this month, but who knows! Maybe I’ll make up for it once I have time again.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small pot, bring the water and couscous to a boil. Remove from heat immediately and allow the couscous to sit in the pot for 10 minutes, soaking up the water.

While the couscous sits, steam the broccoli in a steamer for 5-7 minutes (or use a microwave or stove method, you just want the broccoli to be soft in the end).

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add in the onion and scallions, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes until the onion softens. Remove the onions from the heat and stir in the cumin.

Gather your couscous, broccoli, onion mix, chickpeas and sesame tahini and combine together in a food processor. Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the bread crumbs. Form it into patties and place the patties on a cookie sheet lined with foil.

Bake for 50 minutes, turning the patties over halfway through. You’ll know they are done when the tops begin to brown.

To make the tahini sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined, roughly 30 seconds.

Top your burgers with the sauce, throw some pickles, tomato and lettuce on there, and go to town!

Throughout this process, I’ve wondered what recipes will stick. Which I’ll make again, which I’ll remember, which I’ll tweak, and which I probably toss out the window.

This one’s a sticker. It’s surprisingly filling, appears to be made of things that are good for a person, and tastes great. Plus, who doesn’t love recipes where there are three main steps: 1) mix everything together 2) shape it into patties 3) bake. This recipe made about 12, so I had quite a few days of leftovers.

Place a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and stir them on the dry skillet just until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes, watching closely to avoid burning them. Immediately remove from heat and transfer the toasted seeds to a dish to cool.

Return the skillet to the heat. Add the sunflower seeds and stir them on the dry skillet just until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes, watching closely to avoid burning them. Immediately transfer them to the dish with the sesame seeds.

Combine the beets, carrots, and onion in a large bowl. Stir in the toasted sunflower and sesame seeds, eggs, rice, Cheddar cheese, oil, flour, parsley, soy sauce or tamari, and garlic (your hands work best here). Add cayenne (use 1/4 teaspoon for spicier burgers) and mix until thoroughly combined.

Using your hands, shape the mixture into 12 patties and arrange them in rows on the baking sheet.

Bake the patties until brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Unless they are very large and thick, it should not be necessary to turn them. Serve alone or on buns.

Beets are baaaaack. When trying to find some recipes and suggestions for them, I found this nice little interactive graphic. Perfect, because I absolutely feared beets!

I can’t lie, this recipe was very much because I had leftover beets from the previous recipe, and happened to have (and love) sour cream and chives. I also wanted to know what cooking beets on a stove rather than roasting them would do. Turns out it does this:

A very easy side dish, and I preferred it warm. The recipe suggests serving over egg noodles (which I didn’t have on hand), and I suspect it would be even better in that case.

Beets with Sour Cream and Chives

Peel beets, chop into 1-inch chunks. Roughly chop greens. Put both in a saucepan with butter and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Cover, and cook until the beets are tender and the greens wilted, 20 to 25 minutes. Boil off any excess liquid. Stir in sour cream and toss with chives.

My March vegetable is beets! I don’t love them. They’re purple and sweet, and yeah. Sweet. Too much for me. But this is the beauty of this project – challenging myself to try some things. So I did!

Having been pretty unfamiliar with beets, I hadn’t even considered using the greens attached to them. But look how PRETTY. They weren’t bad.

They also look quite different once you scrub ’em clean:

I’m a bit behind on these posts, so I’m just going to cut to the chase. Overall, this was good. I had high expectations that weren’t quite met (because look at the photo from the original recipe), but my suggestions would be to add more cheese. Always. Add more cheese. I may have had a too-much-beet situation, but it seemed like there wasn’t enough of everything else. …Which means I had to much beet. Problem solved!

Roast the beets. Remove from heat and allow to cool, then cut the ends off, slip off the skins and slice across the equator.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem and wash the greens in two changes of water. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the pot of water comes to a boil, salt generously and blanch the greens for about one minute. (You can also steam the greens until they wilt, one to two minutes). Transfer the greens to the ice water, then drain and squeeze out the water. Chop coarsely.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet, and add the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in the greens. Stir together for a minute, season the greens with salt and pepper, and remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart gratin or baking dish with olive oil. Beat together eggs, salt (about 1/2 teaspoon), pepper, milk, chives and the Gruyère. Gently stir in the greens and beets. Scrape into the gratin dish. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until set and lightly browned on the top. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or room temperature.

Let it be known, I’m enjoying cauliflower. More than I expected, actually. Since the fritters went well, I figured I could venture into uncharted territory – SOUP. I’ve never made soup, never had a huge desire to try to make soup, and actually didn’t like it for a good stretch of my life, but I’ve come around. And it’s freezing around here, so the idea of soup (and a yummy smelling apartment) won me over.

My only instinct with cauliflower is to roast it, so I avoided a roasted cauliflower soup in search of something a bit different. Pioneer Woman to the rescue! Cauliflower soup it is.

Get that cauliflower out, chop off the green and that inner core. Then coarsely chop the rest, unless you’re a perfectionist. I am not.

Cut up a stalk of celery, a carrot, and some onions. Melt some butter, toss the onions in, adding celery and carrots a few minutes later.

After that sits for a few minutes, add the cauliflower and some chopped fresh parsley.

Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring here and there. Then add 2 quarts of chicken broth, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer.

In the meantime, whisk together flour and milk, then slowly add the mixture to melted butter in a saucepan, whisking the entire time. I didn’t take photos of this part because it looks unappetizing. So you’ll just have to make it and taste it yourself. Add the milk/flour/butter combo to the veggie/broth combo, throw in a bay leaf or two and some salt, and let it simmer for 15 minutes more.

And this part is the best part. Pioneer Woman’s secret is to put a hearty cup of sour cream at the bottom of the serving bowl, add a little soup to warm and mix it up a little, and then pour in the rest of the soup.

The soup is pretty damn tasty. It’s not too creamy, not too brothy, and I much prefer having big pieces of cauliflower in a thinner soup instead of a pureed thick cauliflower soup. Success!

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to brown. Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley, stirring to combine.

Cover and cook over very low heat, and after 15 minutes pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add the flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the half-and-half. Add mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add two to three ladles of hot soup into the tureen and stir to combine with the sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.